Sarah Jane Adventures: Life After Oxford
by yeti100
Summary: Life after oxford: Sky is really excited for her birthday however excitement turns to fear when her brother and his friends take a strange turn and end up trying to kidnap her. it's up to the youngest Smith to think up a way to save the day
1. what are you doing with that broom

Firstly to anyone who has read my previous series and is awaiting a new chapter, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a bit longer, due to my old laptop going kaplooey all progress made was lost, but fear not i will get it done, soon, i hope. In the meantime here is a series I was planning on starting afterwards, but decided to release now to fill the gap.

Secondly, It's time to take another dive into the world of Sarah Jane Smith and to correct a mistake of some of my previous writings. to that end I have made a start in a new series that will improve upon mistakes both grammatical and otherwise. This is not part of another series I have written and will hopefully be a completely seperate story more in line with the TV episode

Disclaimers: I don't own Sarah Jane Adventures or any of its characters, I do own my original characters and the plots

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><p>Luke had often wondered when he was younger just how it was that he and his odd little family always seemed to find aliens. Sarah Jane had explained that alien events happened all over the planet and at all times of the day, and that the reason they kept encountering them was because they knew what to look for. At the time Luke felt proud that he was capable of noticing what so many people overlooked; now he sorely wished he wasn't.<p>

"Get out of the lab before someone sees you" said Luke circling an alien that had snuck into his workplace "This is your last warning"

Luke had attempted to be intimidating but the alien just sneered and leaped up onto one of the desks housing a host of computer equipment. Two yellow spherical eyes jutted out of the front of the things face and focused on Luke, the alien's toothless mouth curled into a sneer.

"Not a chance human" said the alien running a too long tongue over his mouth "you caused me trouble letting that cat get away, I'm gonna give you trouble back"

The alien swept a scaled tail across the desk it was perched on and sent most of the computers crashing to the ground in an avalanche of noise. A liquid gurgle erupted from the alien's stomach and the desk to Luke's left dissolved under a rain of projectile acid. Luke barely had time to dive out of the way before a second glob of acid destroyed the workstation behind him. Down the hall Luke could hear the approaching sounds of his manager.

"Time for me to go human" whispered the alien focused on the hall "But don't you worry, I'll be back soon"

Flashing a triumphant grin at Luke the alien slipped out of the long leather coat it wore and every inch of green scaled skin shimmered and became completely invisible. It was only seconds later that Luke's manager appeared through the door. The man's nostrils flared outwards like a Judoon and he surveyed the destroyed room with barely concealed fury before aiming a questioning glance at Luke.

"You wouldn't believe me if it told you" muttered Luke wishing not for the first time that he was oblivious to the alien world.

In the end it was late evening before Luke managed to get home. He had moved out a few months ago at the end of his time at Oxford, the house he had moved into was small, cheap and had the advantage of being close to his workplace. It only had two advantages now, but at least it was quiet until his landlord could find people to rent the other two rooms. Luke shambled up to the door and opened his key to unlock it, but it swung open before he got the chance.

"Hey Lukey boy, how was work?" asked Clyde letting Luke through the door "and what the heck happened to you"

Clyde was looking at Luke's shirt that had several holes burnt into it. Luke looked down and grumbled under his breath, he was running out of clean shirts. Stepping into the small living room Luke dumped his bag on the floor and collapsed into the small comfortable sofa.

"That stupid alien came back again and trashed the computer lab" said Luke with a tone of anger "It's still mad at me for interrupting its hunt"

Clyde grabbed a chair and pulled it up close to the sofa. Luke noticed the specks of flour still covering his face and smiled despite his frustration.

"I'm guessing from your expression he got you fired" asked Clyde, sighing when Luke nodded his head "alright padawan, I suggest you get your CV up on some job sites while I sort out dinner for the pair of us"

Luke gave him a small grateful smile; it amazed him that Clyde was still able to enjoy cooking after working in a kitchen all day. Pulling off his shirt Luke chucked it into the bin before disappearing up to his room. It wasn't much but Luke loved the view out of the window. He took about 30 minutes to place his CV on as many sites as possible before collapsing onto his bed.

"Luke foods up!" yelled Clyde from the bottom of the stairs.

Putting his laptop to sleep Luke grabbed a T-Shirt from his wardrobe and slipped it over his head on the way down the stairs. He could smell the aroma of Clyde's food and his stomach growled happily in response. There were a couple of plates of pasta on the side in the kitchen. Luke grabbed one of the stools and tucked into the meal hungrily Clyde sat opposite him and ate more slowly.

"This is good Clyde thanks" said Luke between bites "managed to get my CV up on plenty of sites, none of them are all that big though, not going to be doing more than creating computer simulation software"

Clyde didn't miss the disappointed tone in Luke's voice; looking up from his food Luke placed a comforting hand on his friends shoulder.

"Hey don't worry about it Lukey boy" said Clyde catching his friends eyes "you get some experience in the little jobs and before you know it you'll be in the big leagues rewriting the laws of physics"

Luke smiled and Clyde returned the gesture both of them laughing. Sarah Jane had been grateful that they both moved out together, one to keep an eye on the other. They both did the dishes after finishing the pasta and Luke went back up to his room to check his emails. Most of them were spam, one from Rani and Maria in america and one from his landlord reminding him about a tenant viewing in a week, but at the top he had a reply to one of his job applications. With a wide grin Luke pulled a clean shirt out of his wardrobe and dashed down the stairs.

"Clyde I got a response to my CV already" said Luke setting up the ironing board "I've got a job interview tomorrow"

Clyde looked up from the sofa and smiled sleepily. Luke managed to avoid burning his fingers this time and hung up his shirt on a hanger ready for the following day. After the excitement his email caused Luke was tired and Clyde had already fallen back to sleep on the sofa. Prodding his friend gently to wake him up Luke steered Clyde to his room. Once his friend was settled Luke collapsed into his own bed. The next day Luke found himself outside a Serf Industries building, enjoying the irony in this Luke went inside and waited in the reception. After a few minutes a man came down the stairs and offered him a hand.

"Hey names Stephen, everyone calls me Steve" Luke got up from his seat and took Stephen's hand "If you'd like to come upstairs we'll get this interview started"

The building Stephen led Luke through was pretty cramped and stuffy; Luke could feel the low hum of the computers that were operating in the building. Stephen led him to a small tidy office that was connected to a small room of computers.

"Now then let's get started" said Stephen glancing over Luke's CV.

The interview was much like Luke had expected, Stephen led him through a series of questions and Luke found his initial nervousness disappear.

"Well Luke I gotta say I'm impressed" said Stephen writing a few things down on his notepad "I've been given the choice on who I hire for this project, if you still want the job it's yours"

Luke couldn't really help but laugh while he shook his new manager's hand. Stephen went over a brief list of things Luke needed to know before letting him loose in the computer room, there was only two other people working in the room so Luke went over to introduce himself. The nametag on his chest read Neil

"Hi I'm Luke-"Luke began

"Don't bother kid, I don't really care, you think you're all smart and impressive but you're just another cog in the machine so buzz off" Replied Neil pushing passed Luke to a different computer

Disappointed Luke turned away and found himself face to face with the other person in the room. She had a nametag as well that read Kathy

"Ignore him he's just annoyed because he got turned down for a promotion in favour of the last kid genius that passed through here" said Kathy offering Luke her hand.

He shook her hand and she helped Luke learn a little about the project. Luke in turn helped solve at least four of the problems that Kathy had been trying to deal with in the programme code. After a couple of hours she was impressed. Before Luke could continue he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Stepping outside to stretch his legs Luke answered and found a frustrated Clyde on the other end.

"Luke I need you down at the kitchens, that lizard guy is here and he's tearing thing up, everyone's gone home for the evening but if he keeps this up the whole kitchen's gonna end up trashed" shouted Clyde from the other end of the phone.

Putting his phone away Luke stepped back into the computer room and walked up to Kathy

"Kathy my friend is having some trouble at work; can you cover for me here?" Luke asked

Kathy nodded and Luke quickly ran from the room back down to the street. He started his little yellow car and drove towards the kitchen where Clyde worked. The back door was open and Luke slipped inside. Inside he was met by a scene of chaos; the entire kitchen was in disarray. The chameleon alien was stuck to the ceiling and spitting a rain of acid down on the room. Clyde was trying to knock him down with a broom but it had melted down to the handle, his clothes were suffering similarly. Luke grabbed his friend and pulled him out of the line of fire.

"Thank god you're here Lukey boy, this things melted down half the kitchen already" said Clyde throwing what was left of his broom at the alien "how do we get it out of here?"

Luke held a finger to his lips and pointed at the fire extinguisher. Clyde nodded and grabbed it. From their place behind the counter Luke counted down from three. On one he sprang out from behind the counter and waved at the alien to get his attention, he was met by a wave of acid that burned through the fire blanked he ducked under. On the other side of the counter Clyde sprang out and doused the scaled alien with freezing cold blast from the fire extinguisher. The alien shrieked and dropped from the ceiling in surprise.

"Push him into the fridge!" yelled Luke opening the door.

Clyde nodded and fired one more burst from his extinguisher before pushing the alien towards the fridge. Luke grabbed it as well and they wrestled the disoriented creature through the door and slammed it shut. They heard it slam against the door a few times but the door was too thick to be easily burned through. Luke slid down to the floor and rested against the door.

"Nice thinking Luke, the fire extinguisher worked great" said Clyde sitting down next to his friend "how did you know it would work?"

"His species is reptilian in nature, cold blooded" said Luke turning his head slightly to listen against the door "without enough heat they become sluggish, a couple of hours in there and he won't have the energy to cause trouble"

"I'd best get tidying then" said Clyde surveying the wrecked kitchen "Oh, I never asked how your interview went?"

Luke grabbed the spare broom when offered and tried his best to help Clyde fix the kitchen while tidying he told him about his new job. It took them an hour in total but by the time they finished the kitchen was pretty respectable, no chance of Clyde getting fired. They ended up having to carry the alien outside and left him to warm up under a blanket, from what Luke knew of their species the alien would move on to weaker prey. It was another half an hour before Luke made it back to work; Stephen was waiting when he got back with a questioning expression.

"Sorry about this Steve it's just my friend Clyde had trouble at work and need my help-"began Luke

"Loyalty is something I appreciate in the workplace Luke, after all the progress Kathy made today I wouldn't have minded if you needed to go home early to help your friend, just warn me next time"

Steve smiled and returned to his office missing the look Luke shot towards Kathy. she simply sneered at him as she walked out the door. Luke wanted to be angry at her but after the day's events he was just too tired. Leaving the office too he went down to where he had left Clyde in his car and the two of them headed for home. Luke settled on his bed once back home and set up video chat with his mother.

"Well it sounds like you had quite the day" said Sarah-Jane after he had explained everything for her "I think I might have a word with those two at your work"

Luke smiled at the idea of Neil and Kathy standing in the terrifying presence of his mother.

"Thanks mum" he said "but I need to deal with them on my own, anything interesting happen to you guys at home?"

She turned her head to speak with Sky and Mr Smith momentarily before shaking her head

"Whispers of a development in the Rutan Host's war with the Sontarans, the Davek ambassadors daughter almost caused an intergalactic incident when her tea party invites where misspelled oh and Sky got top marks for her homework" she answered

Luke congratulated his little sister and laughed at the rest of the news, after a few more minutes chatting he switched off his computer and went to sleep. Elsewhere their chameleon captive was beginning to stir watched by a shadowed figure.

"Congratulations" spoke the figure "you played your role well"

The alien simply scoffed and stumbled to his feet

"Yeah well the moneys how you congratulate me"

He stepped forwards arm outstretched expecting payment

"Oh I'm afraid that won't be necessary" replied the figure grasping the alien's wrist "you are no longer needed"

The streets rang out with screams of pain as the aliens body was wracked by electricity. Nothing but ash remained.

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><p>Unfortunately one mistake I am not likely to fix anytime soon is cruel cliffhangers and questions hidden in questions. but hopefull this is an improvement on my writing style from previous stories. any comments or criticism is appreciated. until next time<p> 


	2. a housewarming party you'll never forget

second verse same as the first, except for you know, being different. My lousy humour aside thanks for all reviews it is always good to know people are enjoying the stories. A new character(well two technically) of my own invention entering play now. one reviewer left an interesting idea which i can't help but play around with, you may see this idea appear in later chapters. until then please enjoy

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><p>"Is this the last of your stuff?" asked Luke lugging a suitcase up the stairs of his house.<p>

"Yeah, thanks for helping me shift all this, would've taken me days on my own" replied Josh pushing the other end of the suitcase up the narrow staircase.

The two of them finally succeeded in forcing the case up the stairs and sat on the top step nursing sore fingers. Josh had come to look around the house a few days ago. He had a pretty laid back attitude and liked the house the moment he saw it. His parents had taken more convincing but they had agreed and he had moved in.

"We can probably talk Clyde into cooking stuff for tea when he's back from work" said Luke finally standing up and heading down the stairs "there's plenty of stuff for sandwiches in the meantime"

Josh let loose a snort of laughter and followed down the stairs. Lunch was an improvised affair but they both tucked in with abandon. They sat in companionable silence until Luke's phone broke it.

"Luke its mum, I'm sorry to bother you on a Saturday but there's trouble-"began Sarah-Jane

Luke got up from his seat and went to the other side of the room. Josh from his seat watched the action curiously.

"A priest of the old shadows has crash landed on earth" said Sarah Jane quietly into the phone "he's a high agent of the shadow proclamation, Mr Smith and I are trying to contact the shadow proclamation now, we need you to find him and help him until then"

Luke took down the location Mr Smith had provided and hung up the phone. His mum would try and meet him there, but it was imperative that someone got there before UNIT. Given their tendency for pointing guns the agent might consider it a threat and react just as violently.

"Everything alright?" asked Josh watching Luke dash around grabbing his keys and a jacket.

"Umm yeah" replied Luke "My mum just asked me to do something for her, I'll be back in a bit"

Luke disappeared out the door leaving a confused and curious Josh in his wake. The newest housemate knew he should probably leave things alone, but he just couldn't resist a mystery. Grabbing his coat as well he disappeared out the front door and followed Luke just out of sight. It proved harder to do once Luke got to his car, but London traffic was on Josh's side. The sky was starting to get dark when Luke and Josh finally reached their destination; the crash site was a few miles outside the city proper and had come down in a relatively isolated place.

"Alright mum I'm just outside the crash site" said Luke into his phone "UNIT is probably on its way, I'll try and lead the agent away"

He hung up and quietly walked towards the crash site, following a small trail of debris. Behind him Josh was beginning to freak out. What was Luke doing walking towards a crashed alien ship? What if it was like the Daleks or Cybermen? Swallowing his nerves Josh continued forwards and they both caught sight of the ship at about the same time. It was an elegant vessel, what was left of it. Neither of them paid much attention to the ship though, the alien at the centre of the wreckage was perfectly still. Luke realised with a lurch of his stomach it was dead.

"Luke what's going on?" asked Josh in a panicked tone "Is that an alien?"

Luke wheeled around in surprise and stuttered trying to find an explanation for Josh. Before he could think of something to say the alien behind him convulsed and a surge of electricity left his body. The energy struck josh and he crashed to the ground in a confused heap.

"Josh! Josh are you ok?" asked Luke crouching down next to his housemate

Josh didn't answer, but when he opened his eyes they were completely white. If josh hadn't been breathing Luke would have thought he was dead.

"It is unfortunate that I was forced to claim a new host from this world, the shadow proclamation transport will be hear shortly thank you for assistance" said Josh in a deep voice that didn't sound like his own.

Standing up Josh began to walk away from the crash site. Luke managed to grab his hand before he could move too far.

"Wait what are you doing?" asked Luke looking into his friends eyes with a flash of realisation "you're the priest I'm guessing a symbiotic entity, the true agent of the shadow proclamation"

"Correct, I am Reid Caldera" said the agent twisting Josh's face into an impressed smile "It would be wise for you to release me human, I do not take kindly to any who interfere with my duties"

Luke realised he still had hold of Josh's arm but didn't let go

"Before you go I need your word that you won't take Josh, the human you're inhabiting away from earth, this is his home and you have no authority to take him" said Luke quietly, not taking his eyes off of Reid

"You dare disrespect the authority of the shadow proclamation, you go too far human!" said Reid full of fury

Breaking the grip Reid pressed two fingers against Luke's forehead. Instantly Luke felt a surge of pain through his mind. He blacked out and fell to the ground in a heap.

"Master Luke, you must wake up" said K-9 nudging against Luke's leg

Luke stirred slowly and noticed his small metal dog. He sat up slowly trying to avoid moving his head too much; worried it might split in two.

"Mistress was worried about you, she sent me to investigate, suggest you contact her immediately" said K-9, manoeuvring himself so Luke could sit up.

Standing proved to be too optimistic for the moment so Luke rested against K-9 and felt around for his phone. His mum answered and Luke's headache didn't improve.

"I know mum I'm sorry" interrupted Luke before his headache got any worse "Reid did something that knocked me out, He's some kind of energy being old and powerful, his original host died in the crash and now he's taken my new housemate Josh as his next host"

Luke left his mum a moment to consider all the information and massaged his temples, trying to rid himself of the persistent headache that plagued him.

"I'm sorry to hear that" said Sarah Jane into the phone "It gets worse, I contacted the Shadow proclamation and they have forbidden interference"

Luke's headache didn't improve at that news; he had hoped that Reid's commanders would have been able to convince him to find a new host.

"Alright I'll convince Reid on my own then-"began Luke.

"No! no, if even half of what Mr Smith has found is true then you won't be able to stop him Luke, if he believes you're interfering in the laws of the shadow proclamation he'll kill you without hesitation" said Sarah-Jane in a nervous tone.

"I have to try mum, it's my fault he was there" said Luke hanging up the phone.

"K-9 can you track down Josh?" asked Luke, holding up a hand to forestall K-9's argument "Please"

K-9 paused for a few moments before rotating and trundling off in a similar direction to Reid. It took almost an hour to reach their destination. Reid was standing in a clear open space gazing at the stars.

"Child I warn you Interfere with me again at your peril" said Reid calmly without turning around.

"I'm sorry for trying but please, this is his home he has family here" Luke said stepping closer to Reid "I'm betting you can see his memories, Look at them, his parents will be devastated to lose their son"

Reid turned and considered Luke. His white eyes close momentarily and when they opened again Josh's face was tinted with sadness.

"It is cruel to ask me to experience such things after the efforts I took over the years to separate myself from them, regardless my answer remains the same"

Reid turned away and continued gazing at the stars. Luke guessed this was where he had arranged to be retrieved, there couldn't be long left.

"Please! Can't you just take another host once your ship gets here, leave him behind?" asked Luke trying to find a solution

To Luke's surprise Reid didn't respond with anger, instead Josh's face twisted into a sigh

"I see your knowledge of me is not complete" Reid said turning to face Luke completely "I exist as the electrical current in this body, when I leave the energy leaves with me and this body would die, this is why I don't leave a host until it is their time. I am sorry"

Luke threw up his hands in frustration and racked his brain for anything that might help. Up in the sky Luke saw flashes of light indicating a ship in the atmosphere. He knew Reid was bound to uphold laws but he was still a compassionate being there had to be some way of convincing him.

"Wait! Reid, you embody the highest laws of the shadow proclamation, you are bound to abide by the laws of any planet you land on, correct?" asked Luke

Reid simply turned his head in a questioning glance

"Kidnapping is a serious offence on my planet, to break this law would bring shame on the shadow proclamation, correct?" Luke asked again

He couldn't be certain but Luke suspected he saw the corner of Josh's mouth quirk upwards into a smile.

"Your theory is missing one piece of information, this planet is not under our jurisdiction, and so not under the protection of its laws" Reid said walking back and forth on the spot "But. This world is growing, soon perhaps it will be"

Luke felt a glimmer of hope stir; Reid was close to agreeing with him

"The lifespan of human beings is short, you wouldn't have to stay long on this world, just let Josh finish his life on earth and then you can return to your duties" Luke said in a pleading tone.

Reid turned his face upwards and the lights in the sky began to fade. Whatever ship had been in the atmosphere was leaving again.

"My masters are far from happy with me, but I will do as you ask" said Reid calmly "be wary though Luke, it was not by accident that my ship crashed here"

Before Luke could ask another question Josh's eyes returned to their normal colour and he sagged forwards like a puppet with cut strings. Luke caught him before he could fall and supported his friend until he could stand on his own.

"Luke you have a lot of explaining to do" said Josh with a lopsided grin.

Luke laughed and helped get Josh back to the house. Once sat down with a cup of tea Luke began to explain everything to Josh who for his part sat silent and listened. Over an hour passed and Luke was finally finished speaking. He sat and waited once done, waiting for Josh to say something.

"This was one crazy housewarming party Luke, and this alien business is unbelievable, but an alien in my head is pretty solid proof. Thanks for helping me" said Josh giving Luke a jovial slap on the shoulder

Luke let out the breath he'd been holding along with a burst of laughter, he had expected Josh to react with anger or fear; instead he had just shrugged his shoulders and gone with it. At that moment Clyde came through the door and found them both laughing.

"Off to a good start then, what I miss" asked Clyde dumping his coat on the peg.

Luke and Josh took one more look at him and their faces split into fresh laughter leaving Clyde completely perplexed. At the crash site UNIT personnel were gathered around the remains of the alien

"all remains will be escorted back to unit HQ, you two stay and cordon off the area until we can bring a crew to remove the ship" ordered a UNIT officer

Two soldiers took position near the largest parts of the wreckage while the others took the alien corpse away. Once alone the two soldiers turned to face a third arrival

"The host is dead and the shadow proclamation vessel did not leave this planet with any additional passengers, indicating the priest died too" said one of the soldiers to the visitor

"Excellent, his investigation on this planet could have caused much trouble, our master will be pleased" replied the visitor with a vicious smile.

The soldiers returned to their post and the visitor departed leaving the crash site behind.

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><p>darn that dastardly villain what could he be up to, who knows. well i do. but i'm afraid you will have to wait, next chapter is well on the way and will see a return of everyone's favourite little sister. till then reviews are always appreciated<p> 


	3. come into my parlour

and back for another chapter, as usual i don't own the SJA or any of it's characters, just the plots and originals. now this is my third chapter and it is introducing perhaps my favourite pair of characters as well as allowing Sky to make a triumphant return. without further waffling from me, please enjoy.

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><p>"Come on guys mums gonna drop Sky off in a minute" said Luke trying his best to clean the kitchen "if she sees the house like this she'll go mad"<p>

Josh milled around half-heartedly tidying up as he went, however much he wanted to make a good impression with Sarah-Jane it was not worth waking up this early to tidy up. Although looking around he couldn't deny that a fair portion of the mess was his. Working around to the small table he caught a glance at some of the sketches that had been left there.

"Hey Luke did you draw these?" he asked holding up the drawings so his housemate could see.

Luke looked up from the dishes and shook his head. He wanted to be able to draw like that but had never been able to.

"No Clyde drew them" said Luke stacking the dishes before moving on to the worktop "He wants to create his own comics, get them published, he works on them between shifts at the kitchen"

Josh cast another look over the drawings and couldn't help but be impressed. From the back of his mind Josh felt a faint flicker of approval from Reid as well. It was still a little disconcerting having an alien in his head but he was getting used to it. Putting them down Josh continued around the room. A few minutes later and Clyde came down the stairs declaring the upstairs was clean as a whistle.

"You might want to put these somewhere safe" said Josh passing Clyde his sketches "They're good by the way, can't wait to see them finished"

Clyde accepted his drawings with a small proud grin. Luke had paused in his cleaning and didn't miss the expression. It was good Clyde was proud of his work; his friend had many good qualities and didn't give himself nearly enough credit for them.

"Thanks mate" Clyde replied shuffling the drawings into a folder "might have to wait a while for the finished piece though, I've hit a major dead end for inspiration"

Clyde disappeared upstairs just before someone knocked at the door. Casting a despairing eye around the house Luke decided it would do and opened the door. His little sister was on the top step one amused eyebrow raised at the state of the house. Sarah-Jane luckily was nowhere in sight.

"Hah new it" said Sky triumphantly "Rani and Mum had a bet going on how tidy your house would be, umm what's a bet"

Luke ignored the voice in his head that tempted him to close the door again and let his sister into the house. Every now and then Sky would visit to give his mum some free time, and to make sure Luke kept in touch with his sister.

"You must be Sky" said Josh offering his hand "heard a lot about you from Luke is it true you caused a nuclear meltdown?"

Sky took Josh's hand and aimed a glare at Luke. They were brother and sister and it showed. Luke grinned triumphantly and continued tidying. Sky kept hold of Josh's hand, a curious expression on her face.

"It's strange" she said after a minute "I can feel something buzzing around you, like a storm but inside you, hehe it tickles"

Sky released his hand and could still feel a slight buzzing along her arm. Upstairs they heard a muffled yelp from Clyde and a loud thump. After a few seconds they heard him grumbling on the stairs.

"Ok I'm guessing Sparky is here already" said Clyde trudging down the stairs "Someone just blew out my light"

He cast an annoyed glance at Sky who didn't look even close to chastised. Josh and Luke were both trying and failing to hide grins and Clyde's mood didn't improve when he noticed.

"Alright well you two can do the cooking tonight then if you think it's so funny" said Clyde pointing a finger at Josh and Luke "and where's Sarah-Jane anyway?"

Normally Sarah-Jane would come in and check up on them but today there was no sign of her

"Oh Gita has taken mum to the spa today" said Sky with an amused grin on her face "it was Rani's idea, and Gita thought it was brilliant, mum barely got away from her long enough to drop me here. Are you really going to let them cook Clyde?"

Clyde and Luke shared a knowing look about Gita before Josh took a spot beside Sky and pointed at her dramatically.

"You can't make us cook Clyde, think of the children" he cried theatrically

Clyde managed to glare at him for all of a second before bursting into laughter, everyone else soon joined him and Sky blew out another light bulb causing Luke to hold up a hand for silence.

"Ok next person that makes my sister laugh has to go out and buy new light bulbs" he said in a mock serious tone before turning to his sister "what do you want to do today Sky?"

Sky held a hand to her chin and concentrated for a few seconds while Luke hunted through the cupboards for some more light bulbs. Finally she struck on an idea and her eyes lit up.

"Oh I know there was this old bookstore that mum and me drove passed on the way home, can we got there?" she asked in a pleading tone that she had learnt to use on Luke.

She needn't have bothered, Luke gave the plan a nod of approval and even Clyde seemed to stop sulking long enough to agree. Josh had work later in the afternoon and opted out leaving the three of them on their own. Once the house was tidy they all piled into Luke's car and set off towards the mysterious bookstore. There journey was a little haphazard with Sky leading the way but they made it eventually, the building was unassuming and nestled in between a row of buildings scheduled for demolition. Despite the surrounding Luke found himself drawn to the shop, looking at his sister and friend he knew they could feel it to

"Lukey-boy, what is that?" asked Clyde "I feel like a fish on a hook"

Sky nodded in agreement although she appeared slightly distracted. Luke could feel the strange presence at the edge of his mind, subtle and barely there, a compulsion that was drawing them all to the shop. Looking at the other people on the street Luke guessed they were unaffected; none of them were turning to look at the mysterious building.

"There's definitely something there" began Luke trying to pin down the phenomenon "It must be why you were drawn to it on the way home Sky, come on"

Stepping up confidently Luke pulled open the door and stepped inside with his friend and little sister. The inside of the shop was dim but even in the low light they could see the inside was full of books, on the walls in shelves stacked on small tables on the floor, even hanging in makeshift hammocks from the ceiling. Luke realised a moment too late that the confidence he'd felt in entering the shop had not been his own.

"Oh hello my dears" said an old woman as she came out from behind a row of books "not often I get visitors to my shop"

As the woman stepped out Luke realised the presence in his mind has disappeared completely, the need for the bait was gone now they had been caught. He stepped between his sister and the woman protectively and felt Clyde close behind him.

"Who are you?" asked Luke cautiously

The woman smiled and moved closer to them circling a stack of books that was almost as tall as she was. Sky poked her head out from behind her brother and watched the woman curiously.

"Oh dear I've made you distrustful" said the woman with a touch of sadness in her voice "I'm sorry for luring you here like this, but when I saw all those aliens in your mind little one, I believed you might be able to help me, I am the Arachnacaic, but call me Arianna"

As she spoke a small ray of sun poked through the small windows around piles of books and Luke caught sight of Arianna's shadow stretching out behind her. Arianna was definitely not human, but Luke had learned over the years that didn't necessarily make her dangerous

"Why did you lure us here?" asked Sky stepping around Luke

Arianna looked at Sky with a smile before absently wandering around her bookshop; she finally settled on one high up on a shelf and passed it down to Sky.

"Usually when I bring people here I want to share my books" she said passing Sky a copy of the Gruffallo "But in this case I need your help"

Sky took the book and flicked through the first pages, there was illustrations scattered throughout the book and Sky seemed pleased to receive it.

"You see children there is another alien on earth I know of besides me" she began pulling a few more books of the shelf and rearranging them "He and I have a history, and now he is using his own abilities to have me evicted and my home destroyed, I cannot allow this to happen"

She seemed deeply saddened at the idea of losing her shop so Sky moved forwards and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Luke was less convinced and Clyde was not happy with having someone in his head

"I'm sorry Arianna but if you wanted our help you shouldn't have tricked us like that" said Clyde motioning to his friends "messing with our minds is not a way to gain trust"

Sky looked sad at the idea of leaving but left her book on a shelf and took Luke's hand. All three of them turned to leave when Arianna appeared in front of them. They were all stunned, nobody had seen or heard her cross the space. Luke could feel her presence in their minds again trying up their minds and slowing thoughts.

"I can stop them myself children" said Arianna, whose tone was growing in menace "I could weave together such nightmares that nobody would come within miles of my shop, but I would rather save my home without resorting to such measures"

Her menacing tone receded and she had returned to a more tired and depressed demeanour but threatening them with nightmares had made Luke furious. He stepped forwards and made sure he was only inches from Arianna looking her dead in the eyes.

"If you use your powers against anybody on earth it will be me that throws you out Arianna, come on guys we are going" said Luke in a deadly quiet voice.

They all stepped out of the shop and out in the fresh air some of the fear they had all been feeling receded. Sky reached out and touched her brothers hand, Luke realised he had been shaking.

"She was scared as well Luke" said Sky squeezing her brother's hand reassuringly "She doesn't know what to do if she loses her house and it scares her, we should help"

Above Sky's head Clyde and Luke shared a glance. After a few seconds of wordless arguing Clyde gave a miniscule shrug of his shoulders and turned his head to look back at the shop.

"Alright we'd best act fast then, demolition on these places is in a couple of days" he said reading a poster stuck on the wall of a neighbouring building "How are we gonna go about sorting this anyway"

Luke flicked out his phone and quickly calculated the time in America. They wouldn't have time to go hunting through the internet themselves; they needed someone who could cut straight to the source.

"Alright I think we can find the alien behind this with Alan's help, come on we can-"began Luke

"I'm staying here with Arianna; someone has to be here to make sure she doesn't hurt anybody" interrupted Sky

Sky stood in a determined stance in front of Luke who was frowning at his little sister. Part of what she said made sense but Luke was worried about his sister.

"Sky I don't know about this, she's dangerous-"began Luke

"She's lonely Luke not dangerous and I'm staying" Sky interrupted for the second time

Luke's frown deepened for a few seconds before he replaced it with a smile, his little sister was just as stubborn as their mother. Reaching into his coat he pulled out K-9's whistle and blew a short sharp burst.

"K-9 will stay and keep you out of trouble" he said as K-9 trundled up to them "Be careful little sister"

He gave Sky a hug before following Clyde back to his car. They drove quickly back to their house and Luke turned on his laptop. It didn't take long before Maria and Rani appeared on the screen.

"Hey guys, sorry for waking you up but we have a bit of an emergency" said Luke noting the deep yawns his friends were sharing "We need Alan's help"

Maria disappeared to fetch her dad and left Rani to talk to the boys about her time in America. She was really enjoying studying journalism there and having a brilliant time exploring the city. The boys in turn told them about things in London, all three laughing together when Rani heard about Sarah-Jane and the spa day. Finally Alan appeared on the screen.

"Alright boys what can I do for you?" asked Alan

Luke quickly relayed all the information they had received, the location of the shop and the company that had been hired for demolition, once he had learnt all he could Alan got to work on the internet using his computing skills to hunt down the mysterious alien.

"Are you sure we should be helping her Luke?" asked Rani "I mean she's dangerous and has threatened to hurt a lot of people if they try and evict her"

Clyde and Rani had fallen firmly on the same side of the argument, and Luke couldn't deny she had a point, his mum wouldn't allow aliens to threaten anyone on earth.

"That's a bit unfair Rani" countered Maria "her homes in danger and she's scared, the four of us have done some pretty scary things when our home was in danger"

Luke smiled at Maria, he had been considering exactly the same thing and none of them could deny that a lot of aliens that came seeking trouble on earth had ended up worse for wear. Before the argument could continue further Alan reappeared on the screen.

"Right it took a little while but I think I found him" said Alan transferring a couple of files across to Luke's laptop "a mysterious recluse who has been described as a phenomenally good judge of character, from what I've seen of aliens its go to be him, cause why would the do anything original"

The last part was said under his breath and teased a smile out of everyone. Luke looked over the information and had to agree with Alan; Mr Philip Tenson had amassed a considerable business empire beneath him and was the biggest investor in the project that was demolishing the buildings.

"Thanks guys" said Luke finding a business address in the information "We'll see if we can get a meeting with Mr Tenson"

Alan nodded and disappeared from the screen leaving Rani and Maria. Both of them had matching expressions of concern on their faces.

"You both be careful ok boys" said Rani nervously "Arianna must be avoiding confronting Tenson personally for a reason"

Maria nodded behind her and wished the boys luck before they all logged off, finding his Sat-Nav Luke rushed down to the car with Clyde hot on his heels. The business building was in a busy corner of the City and the structure towered above Luke and Clyde when they arrived.

"Great cause that's not intimidating or anything" said Clyde staring up at the building "are you sure we should be doing this alone Luke"

Luke turned to look at his best friend and gave a small shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't sure of any of this, but he was far less scared of the enigmatic Tenson than he was of Arianna. Stepping up to the entrance they both walked into a bright and clinical reception area and made their way towards the front desk. Before either of them could speak the receptionist looked up at them both.

"Ah good you're here, Mr Tenson is expecting you, please go right up" she said pointing towards an elevator.

Stepping into the elevator together they headed for the top floor where they would meet the enigmatic Mr Tenson. However they were both unaware that outside Arianna's shop the demolition crew had already arrived.

"Arianna I spoke to the man in charge!" said Sky bursting back through the door "he said demolition has been moved forwards to 12:00 today, that's in less than an hour"

Arianna looked Sky steadily in the eye before turning her gaze towards the men she could see through the window. For a brief second Sky felt something slip passed her mind, out of the shop.

"No stop it!" cried Sky planting herself between Arianna and the door "give my brother a bit more time, he's never let me down yet, and he won't let you down either"

Arianna considered Sky carefully before returning to her seat. Sky let out her held breath before collapsing into a seat next to Arianna.

"Please Luke hurry up" she said under her breath

Luke and Clyde meanwhile had made it to the top of the elevator and stepped out into a luxurious office. Sat lazily behind his desk in the centre of the room was Mr Tenson. He was Luke thought, kind of short but an air of power buzzed against the edges of his mind as well.

"Ah gentlemen it's good to meet you at last" said Tenson from his seat "do come in, make yourselves at home"

Trying to ignore the supreme confidence being projected into their minds Luke and Clyde both walked into the office and took the seats opposite Tenson

"Mr Tenson we've come to ask you to reconsider-"began Luke

"Yes, yes I already know why you're here" interrupted Tenson "what I really want to hear from you is what you offer in return for my help, afterall to have that old relic evicted is something I would love to make happen"

He let a lazy content smile slip across his face and stared hungrily at the two humans sat in front of him.

"You can't expect money from us; we're barely making enough for rent, let alone paying off some sleezy alien mind-reader"

Luke watched Tenson switch his gaze from him to Clyde but the focus of the aliens mind never left Luke.

"I would never ask for something as trivial as money when you have so many other things to give" said Tenson in a scornful mocking tone "Your creativity for example" he said gesturing at Clyde who looked shocked at the ide "or your intelligence" he continued pointing at Luke whose face dropped into a glare "but I see in your minds that these prices are too high, so instead I will simply ask for a favour, just one to be used at my own discretion"

He sat back in his chair and watched them both. Luke turned to Clyde whose face was a mirror of Luke's. Both of them were worried that if they agreed to this deal they might find themselves in serious trouble.

"You better hurry" said Tenson in a sing-song voice pointing at Luke's phone.

At that second the phone buzzed indicating Luke had a text.

'Luke the demolition crew are early, they say that if Arianna doesn't leave in ten minutes they'll force her to leave, you have to hurry'

Luke showed the text to Clyde who gulped audibly. They didn't have long before Arianna turned her powers on the men outside her shop. Luke turned to look at Tenson who already had his hand out-stretched over the desk. Taking a deep breath Luke reached across and shook hands.

"Excellent" said Tenson pulling out his phone "I'll handle the demolition men you have my word, and I'll be in contact when I have decided what favour to ask of you"

Both Luke and Clyde felt a surge of relief when they finally left the office. They jumped into Luke's car and left the shadow of the building behind them making quick time towards Arianna's shop. It didn't take long and when they got there Arianna and Sky were outside waiting for them. Sky ran to her brother and he caught her in a hug. Smiling at them both Arianna disappeared into her shop and reappeared holding a tray of tea and biscuits. Realising it had been a while since they'd eaten the boy tucked in ravenously as did sky.

"Thank you ever so much for helping me children" said Arianna pouring out more tea "It's good to have my home back"

She smiled at them all and Luke felt a buzz of energy against the edge of his mind. Sky felt it too and even Clyde started grinning.

"You're welcome Arianna, although I have to ask why did you need us at all, couldn't you have stopped Tenson yourself?" asked Luke

Arianna looked at the sky with a curious expression before bursting into laughter. It was a rich sound, like she hadn't made it in a while.

"He had a restraining order filed against me" she said with an amused tone "a condition of our divorce"

Clyde sputtered out some of his tea before looking between Arianna and the general direction of Tenson's office.

"You mean you and him were"-began Clyde in an incredulous tone before descending into fits of laughter.

Sky and Luke joined in and continued for several minutes before the street light blew out. They hadn't realised it was getting quite that light and said goodbyes to Arriana. Before they left Arianna gave Sky back the copy of the Gruffallo and gave Luke a copy of the Wizard of Oz.

"And for you young man I have a very special gift" she said turning to Clyde "I understand you are struggling with your inspiration"

Before Clyde could ask how she knew he felt her reach out gently into his mind and start tying things together. She didn't use anything that wasn't already there but simply connected together ideas that already existed. When she was finished Clyde's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Thank you" he said quietly.

Arianna waved them off as they piled into Luke's car and disappeared into her shop once they were out of sight. Luke looked behind him quickly to see Sky fast asleep in the back seat and Clyde scribbling furiously into a sketch-book. He couldn't help but smile. It had been a pretty good day out after all.

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><p>so shoot me i like a soppy ending once in a while. No cliffhanger either, but don't worry the evil lurky guy is still hanging around waiting to cause trouble. in the meantime i have about one more character to introduce as well as a more focused story on Clyde coming in the next chapter. so until next time reviews and comments are always appreciated<p> 


	4. who was that masked man

and the next chapter of the story is up, in this one we focus on the creative member of the gang. I actually quite like writing this one, and the chance to be inspired by greek mythology much like the SJA was fun as well. as always TKLee gets a mention up here for simply being awesome, he has a story of his own up on the sight and it is well worth a read-warning contains custard-anyway enough rambling, please enjoy

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><p>There are very few things in the universe powerful enough to wake Luke up in the early hours of the morning. Clyde's cooking is one of them. Luke' stomach growled happily as he stumbled down the stairs in his pyjamas. He could smell bacon and his stomach was temporarily overruling his brain which was asking him why Clyde was awake so early. After the last few steps he was greeted by an unusual site. The table had been completely overrun by reams of paper; each covered in intricate drawings and scrawled notes. Clyde was prowling around the outside edge inspecting each piece of paper, pausing every now and then to point something out to the other person circling the table. She was quite pretty and would respond to whatever Clyde was pointing to with enthusiasm and a bouncy excitement. When she noticed Luke she bounded over to him with an inappropriate level of energy for the time of the morning.<p>

"Hi you must be Luke" she said slipping around the table to meet him and leaving her glasses balanced precariously on the end of her nose "I'm Kylie, it's so nice to meet you at last, Clyde has told me so much about you"

Luke took her hand when offered and it did something to shake loose the cobwebs tying up his brain. He remembered Clyde mentioning meeting someone after entering an art competition. He still wasn't quite awake enough to figure out why she was in the house.

"Hey Luke sorry if we woke you" said Clyde putting together a bacon sandwich for Luke quickly "me and Kylie just needed a place to work and put our ideas together"

Luke took the offered sandwich and after the first bite his mood had much improved. Kylie and Clyde returned to circling the table and chatting animatedly about the comic that was being born in front of them. It looked a lot like Clyde's first comic 'The Silver Bullet'. Clyde followed Luke's glance and felt a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It's for a competition Lukey-boy" he said holding up the first page "tomorrow there's going to be a gathering of loads of young artists, the winner gets their work published"

Luke returned his friends grin; it was a perfect opportunity for Clyde.

"Me and Clyde met at the signup" said Kylie after bending down to apply a few more notes "my ideas have always been good but my illustration is weak" began Kylie.

"And the reverse is true for me" said Clyde taking a quick peek at the latest note "so the pair of us got talking and decided to enter together"

Kylie leaned over the table next to Clyde and started rushing through some new ideas. Clyde blushed at the sudden proximity leaving Luke to smirk at his friend's discomfort. Behind them Josh started his way down the stairs in pyjama bottoms. He seemed oblivious to the others in the room and went about making a bowl of cereal. Only when he had finished did he notice Kylie. He frowned for a second before shrugging his shoulders and settling down to eat.

"Every comic book king needs a queen" he said sagely between bites and causing another blush to travel up Clyde's face "so you two entering the contest together"

Clyde nodded quickly clearly not trusting his mouth and Kylie brought over one of the pieces of paper and launched into a light-speed explanation of their idea. Josh followed with interest, even chipping in a few ideas of his own.

"Sounds good" he said reading over all the notes written around the edges "any chance I can come along too?"

Clyde and Kylie shared a nod of agreement which sent a smile across Josh's face. Luke felt a bit put out that he was working the next day. Watching his best friend and new housemate get along was good but Luke couldn't help but feel left out, imagination and creativity had never been his strong points. After finishing his sandwich Luke disappeared to get ready for work. When he returned from work that evening he noticed Clyde crashed out with his head on the kitchen table, his finished work lying next to his head. Smiling to himself Luke headed upstairs to bed. The next day Clyde, Kylie and Josh left bright and early for the contest halls, none of them could drive yet but they had plenty of time. Clyde was yawning, Kylie was talking a mile-per-minute and Josh was listening to Reid grumbling in his head. Apparently there was a lot of electricity in the air and Reid was only partially soothed by Josh's thunderstorm hypothesis.

"Come on Reid I highly doubt it's anything more sinister than static electricity" thought Josh "Unless you know something I don't?"

There was silence from the part of his mind that Reid resided in for a few moments; Josh thought for a second Reid was going to ignore him as was his habit. Then all at once a jumble of images hit Josh and he almost tripped over.

"These are my memories of my time with my previous host" he began once the images receded "due to the violent nature of my transfer I rushed the process of transferring memories, now I'm having trouble interpreting them"

Just thinking about all that information made Josh dizzy again, he felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Reid, the transfer between them must have been just as confusing for him.

"Is there anything I can do to help sort them out?" asked Josh "two heads are better than one and all that"

There was silence once more from Reid although this time Josh sensed a tinge of emotion as well, he realised Reid was feeling conflicted.

"There are meditation exercises that my other hosts performed" Reid said, sending across images of various aliens "this would allow me to organise my thoughts, remember why I came to earth, although I gave Luke my word I would not interfere with your life"

Josh had learnt a little about Reid since he became a host, the only thing more binding to him than the laws of the shadow proclamation was his word. Josh wasn't surprised his friend was feeling conflicted.

"And when it comes to taking control of my body to chase after shoplifters I agree with him" said Josh, grinning when he felt a wave of embarrassment from Reid "but if you need my help you can have it"

Reid didn't say much more to that, Josh felt a surge of gratitude and then his mind was silent once more. He would start meditation exercises with Reid in the evening. Turning a final corner they all caught sight of the competition hall, there was no doubt in their minds that it was the right place. Vibrant costumes and posters lined every inch of wall space. The hall was crowded with all ages and everybody there was talking until the hall was just a buzz of noise. Kylie let loose a squeal of excitement and disappeared over to a corner where the guest judge-one of her favourite artists-was sat. Josh went to keep an eye on her at Clyde's request while he went to sign them in. The woman at the sign in tables smiled when Clyde approached and he quickly put down their names and handed over their submission.

"Oh wow" said the sign up woman emphatically "this is incredible stuff, the way you've drawn them, it's like the character is alive in your mind"

Clyde blushed at the praise but he couldn't help but feel happy that people really were impressed by his work. The woman disappeared to put their submission with the others and Clyde left to go and stand with Kylie and Josh. After the submission cut off time the judges took all the submissions into a room where they could think in peace. After almost an hour the nerves in Clyde's stomach were really getting to him, and when the judges re-entered the room he found his hand caught in a frightened embrace. Kylie looked just as nervous as he was.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen we have reached a decision, the winners of the contest is Clyde Langer and Kylie Jones"

Clyde felt a surge of pain as Kylie crushed his hand in shock, she almost passed out completely, luckily Clyde managed to steer her onto the stage with a little help from Josh. The judges smiled and shook each of their hands and gave a few muttered congratulations over the roar of the crowd. The last person to congratulations was the woman in charge of the signup sheets; she presented Clyde with a small medal to go around his neck.

"A special prize especially for the illustrator" she said into his ear, struggling to make herself heard over the crowd.

Buzzing with praise Clyde slipped the medal over his head without delay. It was only then that he realised something was wrong. The chain felt heavy on his neck and the medal had begun to glow a faint purple. Even as he sank to his knees the signup woman seemed to grow, the kind look she had was replaced by greed and hunger. Soon she stood tall clad in reflective silver metal with the greedy look in her eyes hidden behind a visor. The crowd of people around the stage had stopped in a dead silence nobody sure what exactly to make of the display.

"Clyde what's happening?" asked Kylie in a panicked voice crouching down next to Clyde who had been brought to his knees by the necklace.

Before Josh could ask the same question a rush of consciousness overwhelmed his body and he was moving faster than he thought possible. Kylie was in his arms and being pulled out the way as a rush of air swept passed them. There were cries of pain from the audience as the same force barrelled through them leaving several people injured on the floor. Clyde was gone.

"What was that, what's happening?" asked Kylie again her voice high pitched and hysterical.

Josh wasn't really certain, but he muttered quiet calming words to Kylie while reaching for his phone. The paramedics arrived quickly on the scene and got to work sorting through the injuries that the silver bullet had caused. Josh realised shortly after their arrival that Reid's interference had probably saved Kylie's life. About ten minutes after the paramedics Luke arrived, he made straight for Kylie and Josh. Josh felt quite grateful that Luke had arrived to take control of the situation; he stayed perfectly calm and anchored the emotions of everyone around him helping calm his friends. The police were there too and Josh was amazed at how quickly his friend managed to adapt to the situation and explain to them in non-alien terms exactly how a superhero appeared in the middle of the convention. It was several hours before they were allowed to leave. He drove them all back to the house, Kylie included and once there Josh went about making some tea.

"Okay Luke tell me what is going on?" demanded Kylie in a loud but less hysterical voice "that was not a publicity stunt, that thing took Clyde and hurt those people, what was it"

Josh held off on passing the tea across for a moment, sensing the building temper in Kylie he decided to keep boiling hot water out of reach. Luke didn't help the situation by ignoring her and instead sitting down with his laptop.

"Kylie, call your parents and ask them to take you home" he said while simultaneously typing away at his laptop "The police will find the woman that took Clyde, there's nothing more you can do"

Josh wasn't sure what reaction Luke was expecting from that but what he got was Kylie slamming the laptop closed, barely missing his fingers. She looked angry and her temper only increased at the completely calm look on Luke's face.

"Clyde has been kidnapped Luke don't you care!" she yelled placing herself only inches from Luke's face "That was not someone in a costume, that thing had the same powers as the silver bullet, we should be doing something"

Josh saw a flash of anger behind Luke's eyes for barely a second and realised that maybe his friend wasn't quite as in control as he thought.

"Go home" was all Luke said stressing each word and keeping his voice perfectly controlled

Kylie went from angry to disbelieving and landed in upset, storming out of the house and making the windows rattle when she slammed the door. Luke had already returned to typing away at his laptop. Josh wasn't entirely sure what to make of what just happened and settled for putting Luke's tea in easy reach. Josh could see Luke was trying to keep her away-he would have left her at the convention if she wasn't so hysterical-what he didn't understand was why.

"Clyde" Luke said grabbing Josh's attention and holding him in place with a sad determined gaze "Clyde asked me to keep her away from anything alien, said he wanted at least part of his life to be normal"

Josh was tempted to ask if Luke could read minds but decided against it, his friend was tense despite seeming calm on the surface. With little to do for the moment Josh drew his legs up onto the counter and slowly calmed his breathing, feeling Reid spread out into his mind, before the trance state took over completely he sent a small buzz of gratitude to Reid, grateful for saving Kylie. After what felt like a few minutes but was in actuality a few hours Josh was shaken from his meditation by Luke.

"I've found Clyde" he said gathering up a few belongings from around the house "Mr Smith helped me track abnormal weather patterns, sudden gusts of gale force wind, it took a while but I think I've narrowed down a rough location"

Josh nodded in what he thought were appropriate places while Luke explained. They headed for the car and Luke quickly had them out into London traffic.

"OK we know where, the next question is how" said Josh remembering the extreme speed of the entity that took Clyde "How do we stop something that fast"

Luke smiled slightly and held up a small device. Judging from its appearance the device was made out of odds and ends, josh was sure he could see a spoon and his alarm clock mixed in there.

"I've met entities like that before, creatures that feed on emotions" he said slipping the device into his pocket "This one feeds on inspiration and imagination, that device will cut her off from any food sources"

Josh was curious as to what the other entities were but decided to hold off on questions as he was hit by his own little wave of inspiration.

"She's a muse" he said causing Luke to frown in concentration "beings that inspire creativity, only instead of inspiring it, she feeds off it"

Luke's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair as he thought over everything josh had said. After the gorgon the existence of myths and legends didn't surprise him. Everyone assumed that the muses inspired creativity because they were depicted as being close by at moments of inspiration; not realising that they were sneaking in for an easy meal. This one must have been drawn to Clyde. Turning a final corner Luke pulled over. The building was old and abandoned, something Luke would've expected to see in Clyde's comic book, he realised that was probably the point. Walking as quietly as possible Josh and Luke slipped through the warehouse, after a few minutes they could hear a muffled voice.

"Don't worry pet, soon it will be over, I will have drained you dry"

The muse in the guise of the silver bullet was leant over Clyde holding the device that was helping focus her powers.

"Oh come in already gentlemen" she said in an amused tone "and don't bother with that pathetic little device you're carrying"

Luke had been reaching into his pocket when she appeared directly in front of him. Before Luke or Josh could react she had the device between her fingers on the other side of the room. Neither could see her face but Luke could almost hear her grin behind the mask.

"Now stay very still gentlemen, the process is almost complete, and then I'll be on my way"

Even as she spoke Clyde slowly sank to the ground losing focus in his eyes. Luke made to move forwards and found himself thrown to the floor, josh was swept aside and the muse planted a foot on Luke's chest making it hard to breathe.

"Leave them alone!"

Of all the rescues Luke had been expecting, Kylie carrying a massive speaker set wasn't one of them, looking at her getup Luke would have laughed if the situation wasn't so grave.

"Oh is this really the best such a creative mind can come up with" Said the Muse with scornful sarcasm "What do you intend to do to me?"

Kylie ignored the question and pressed a button that was wired into the speakers. An ear-splitting sound wailed out through the warehouse causing everyone who could move to cover their ears. The muse doubled over in pain falling backwards away from Luke who quickly grabbed his device and activated it, causing a translucent field to envelop the muse. Josh had run over to Clyde and thrown away the necklace, already the young artist was looking better.

"High frequency sound waves" said Kylie helping Luke up off the ground "I figured if that thing had the Silver Bullets powers then she might have his weakness as well"

Kylie looked smug in every sense of the word, and if she hadn't just saved everyone Luke might have been tempted to snap at her, instead he just watched as she enveloped Clyde in a hug and supported him out of the warehouse. Clyde's eyes had become refocused by the time they had left the warehouse, which was unfortunate because it left him the task of explaining to Kylie. The conversation lasted the whole way home and into the house, taking longer because Kylie couldn't help but interrupt. Finally she left the house, leaving a slightly deflated Clyde on the sofa. Luke could see the tiredness in his friends face so he brought over a cup of tea.

"Thanks for trying to keep her out of this" said Clyde taking his tea and making space for Luke "She took it pretty well, but said she needed some time to think"

Kylie had done well in facing the muse while Clyde was in danger, but now that the danger had passed facing the truth of aliens was a hard thing to do. Luke put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, which did little to ease the sad look on Clyde's face. Before he could come up with a way to cheer up his friend Luke's phone rang.

"Hello, hi Steve, yeah sorry about that, she did what, nightmare, I should be able to fix it, I'll come in early tomorrow morning, okay, bye"

Luke ended the call and was faced with a curious Clyde.

"I left my workstation logged in, so Kathy decided to make use of all the work she could find on it" at this Clyde's eyebrows drew together into a frown, Luke's colleagues needed a smack round the head "unfortunately for her I left a few bugs in my code, the whole system crashed when she tried to run it"

Clyde's face went from serious to crease with laughter within seconds; soon he was holding his sides trying desperately to recover. Luke was in a similar state and even Josh was smiling from his position on the kitchen counter despite his meditating.

"I've taught you well my young padawan" Clyde said proudly, before yawning.

Seeing the exhaustion on his friend's face Luke got him up and steered him to the stairs, calling across to Reid as he went, making sure he let Josh sleep as well. After everything that happened that day Luke felt he could sleep for hours, unfortunately for the person that woke him up, he managed until 7:00am. Muttering furiously under his breath Luke pulled himself away from sleep and walked out of his room. He could hear loud and excited voices coming from the only spare room in the house. Upon opening the door he found the place converted into a miniature art studio, Kylie and Clyde working around the centre.

"Hey Luke, meet our new sort of housemate" said Clyde pointing at Kylie. "Her parents are gonna help her rent this space for an art studio"

Kylie bounded over at that point-Luke was pretty certain she was what woke him-and started talking about some new ideas to improve the Silver Bullet.

"Yeah since someone told the judges that was a publicity stunt they disqualified us" she said with a watered down glare at Luke "we're going to have to work even harder to get this published"

Feeling a surge of guilt Luke left them to it with the promise of teleporting them into space if they woke him up early again. He caught sight of Josh still meditating on the breakfast bar; he had changed his clothes so Luke new they hadn't been there all night. Luke was trying to decide whether or not to wake his friend when Josh flinched and almost fell backwards of the bar. Luke helped his friend up and waited patiently for a response, it was slow coming but eventually Josh's eyes flickered back into focus.

"Something is here on earth Luke" he said sliding off the side and onto his feet "We don't know what yet, but there's definitely something"

Josh and Reid could remember no more than that, but Luke couldn't help feel concerned. The earth was in danger again and it might be up to them to stop it.

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><p>being me i still can't resist a little bit of a cliff hanger i'm afraid that this aspect of the story is going to unwind very slowly with tidbits here and there. Luke came off as kind of lazy in this lol but at the same time after years of being a student it fits him quite nicely. Till next time reviews are always appreciated.<p> 


	5. The Grufallo's child

i wish i could be reliable with my chapter upadates and apologise for taking so long between chapters. to anybody waiting for an updata on my other story i must keep asking for patience, it will be done i'm just not sure when. my poor writing skills aside i have a new chapter for you inspired by the somewhat unusual suggestion made by pachysam who sparked an idea that may also end up in crossovers. without further adue pleas enjoy

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><p>Three people stood facing each other across the room. It was sparsely furnished and very dim barely letting in any light from outside.<p>

"The facility is key master" said a UNIT soldier "whatever the results of our other plans we will need the technology inside"

The second man in the room, the leader nodded in agreement. They had been making slow progress towards their goal but had succeeded at least in staying under the radar.

"Such a theft would not go unnoticed" said the third person, a female in formal attire "we would bring investigations down on us-unless we can provide a distraction"

The leader closed his eyes to consider this again, their primary objective was to remain undetected any other goal was secondary.

"It is a risk, you must insure UNIT is blind to our actions" he said indicating the soldier in the room "and you must deal with any other local authorities" he said indicating the woman "I will deal with the Smiths"

Sky quietly opened the door to her brother's house and slipped into the lounge/kitchen/dining room/whatever other room it happened to be. The place was clean, surprisingly so because she hadn't warned of her visit. On the breakfast bar sat josh with his eyes closed and legs folded, his face set in deep concentration. She could almost feel a cloak of electricity hang around him as he meditated both him and Reid oblivious to her presence. Sky found her brother sat on the small sofa staring at Josh as well entranced by the display just like her, after a couple of seconds she sat down next to Luke. The slight movement brought him back to reality and he put and arm around his sister.

"Hey Sky, Happy birthday"

It was over an hour later before Josh came back to himself, a minuscule shrug of his shoulders aimed at Luke before he stretched out and went up to his room. With the kitchen more or less clear Luke set about a making breakfast for Sky as a birthday treat. She eyed the finished creation dubiously, it was only cereal but Luke was a Smith, and that meant he just couldn't cook.

"Thanks Luke" she said tucking in once she realised it wasn't too bad "why isn't Clyde cooking today"

Luke poked his tongue out at his little sister before fixing some cereal for him and sitting down next to her.

"Because little sister, Clyde and Kylie are working on a very special birthday present for you" said Luke messing up his little sisters hair "they'll be down in a minute to explain, in the meantime"

Opening one of the kitchen draws Luke revealed a small wrapped gift inside. Sky lit up when she saw it and quickly pulled apart the wrapping paper. Inside was a phone, similar to her old one but it had been customised, Sky guessed with help from Rani. She gave her brother a hug and quickly swapped SIM cards.

"Thanks Luke" she said admiring it "it's so pretty"

Smiling Luke took the phone and quickly placed the phone down on the table. Without warning he took a fork from the draw and slammed it onto the phone. Sky was about to get angry with him when she realised the fork had bent.

"I know how much luck we have with phones" he said handing her phone back undamaged "so mum and I worked on this one, almost completely indestructible, me and Josh were testing it all day yesterday"

Josh came back down the stairs running a hand through damp hair and grinned when he heard his name.

"Yeah it was good stress relief, after spending all this time battering my head against a mental wall" he said running a static hand over Sky's hair and making it stick up "happy birthday sparky"

Sky flattened her hair with a giggle which caused the toaster to rattle ominously. Luke shot a warning look at Josh before they all carried on with breakfast. It didn't take long after that for Clyde and Kylie to come rattling down the stairs armed with what looked like most of their art studio. Standing in the centre of the room Clyde gave an introduction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special birthday treat, inspired by the muse and our combined love of comics" he said theatrically "today we are going to make Sky a superhero"

At this Kylie revealed one of their large paintings showing Sky painted as different superheroes. Luke and Josh clapped while Sky tried her best not to laugh.

"You see Sky a friend of mine works making actual set costumes used on TV" explained Kylie "so if you want he could make you and actual costume based on one of the designs"

Sky ran up and gave them both a hug which they took as a sign of agreement. Luke threw his keys to Clyde and told him to get everything packed in the car, Kylie helped while Sky followed buzzing with excitement. Once they had gone Luke turned to Josh, his friend looked tired out and he felt a surge of guild for pushing him to recover Reid's memories.

"I know what you're gonna ask Luke" said Josh shaking his head absently "we found nothing new about earths mysterious enemies, the ones that shot downs Reid's ship"

Luke placed his hand on Josh's shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture

"I know it's okay, I'm sorry I keep asking" Luke said comfortingly "why don't you go back to sleep for a bit, I'm sure Sky won't mind if you drop out"

Smiling gratefully Josh took himself up the stairs leaving Luke in the kitchen. After Reid's initial revelation Josh had been pushing himself to help the symbiote remember more, but they had only made slow progress. Stepping out the front door Luke found his friends gathered around a large package at the bottom of their front steps, Luke felt an amused smile creep across his face.

"Is this for me Luke?" asked Sky clearly hoping for another birthday present "it's addressed to your house"

Luke shrugged his shoulders and helped Clyde and Kylie get the last of the tape off of the outside. The last thing Luke remembered for a long time was a flash of light before losing consciousness.

"Luke? Luke! Are you okay?" asked Sky nervously circling her friends

Sky looked over the unconscious form of her brother and his friends with concern, whatever was in that package had knocked them all out cold, before she could ring an ambulance all three of her friends stood up simultaneously. Each of them stretched like they hadn't moved in a while before turning to Sky, she felt afraid.

"Hmm a little girl has wondered into Fox's path" said Luke eyeing his sister and licking his lips "how delicious"

He said each word with precision and care but moved with clumsy actions like he wasn't used to his body or how it should move. Clyde and Kylie were watching silently and moved in the same clumsy fashion that Luke did.

"Come Fox leave some for us" said Clyde licking his lips in the same way as Luke

Sky could barely scream as she was thrown over Luke's shoulder and carried away, Clyde and Kylie followed behind, No they were not Clyde and Kylie; something had taken over them whatever was in the package. She tried to struggle against them for a few minutes but gave up eventually. After what felt like hours of being carried by Luke she was put down, clearly Fox hard clearly encountered Luke's physical limits. Sky was half tempted to run but her legs were numb and one glare from Clyde put the idea out of her mind.

"Sky can you hear me" said Luke turning to his sister

Sky almost screamed in surprise hearing her brother talk normal, his eyes were focused and he had lost the slow and careful speech of Fox. Looking over at Clyde and Kylie to make sure they weren't listening Sky nodded.

"I haven't got long" Luke said with strain in his voice "you need Arianna, she's smart enough to force these beings out of us, but remember she can't put things in people's head, she needs something in our minds to work with"

The last few words came out as barely a whisper and soon looks eyes had lost focus and were returned to the unfocused hungry stare of Fox.

"Well it looks like this body isn't as pathetic as I first thought" said Fox with a sneer that looked out of place on Luke's face "What did he say to you?"

Sky felt herself pushed up against the wall behind her, and she felt something sharp push into her back through the thin fabric of her backpack. In her hurry to leave the house she forgot to leave it behind. After a few seconds she realised it was the book that Arianna had given her. It gave her an idea.

"He was reminding of something" said Sky focusing on her captors "if I'm to leave the city I need the permission of the Cities ruler first"

Fox's curiosity was overwhelmed by his sneer once more and he started to drag Sky towards wherever their intended destination was.

"Please don't take me without asking!" screamed Sky faking panic "she's a terrible beast with terrible Jaws, and terrible teeth and terrible claws"

Fox stopped his dragging and turned to Sky with curiosity deep on his face once more. Looking over to Clyde and Kylie they communicated silently for a few moments before Fox turned back to her.

"Well then lead the way little one" he said in mock courteous tone pushing Sky roughly down the street.

Hoping her plan would work Sky glared at Fox before leading him in the opposite direction. It was a long walk to Arianna's bookshop but gave Sky time to work on her plan. After about twenty minutes walking Fox grew curious behind her.

"So this Ruler is she really so terrible little girl?" Asked Fox in his same jeering tone.

Sky grinned without turning her back, it was working.

"Oh yes she has knobbly knees and turned out toes and a poisonous wart at the end of her nose" Sky almost chanted remembering the lines from her book.

She watched Luke's nose wrinkle in disgust and recognised just the tiniest flicker of something, not fear but caution in his eyes. They continued walking through the City sky taking the most direct route she could manage. It wasn't long before Fox spoke again.

"Why do you need permission from this woman anyway, surely she can't be that frightening?" asked Fox, a note of caution present in his voice.

Fox's wary caution showed in his body language and Sky could see it in the corner of her eye. She suspected Luke was helping as much as he could, adding to the fear she was trying to generate.

"She is indeed, I remember the first time I met her, her eyes are orange and her tongue is black she even has purple prickles all over her back"

Even as she spoke Sky caught sight of Arianna's shop and felt her heart race a little, in her mind she felt a small surge of confidence, a gift from Arianna. Stopping at the front doors Sky feigned fear at entering the shop before being pushed roughly inside by Luke. The shop was dark and sky didn't have to do much pretending when it came to being afraid, but inside there was no sign of Arianna.

"Hah your fearless ruler appears to have run away little one, guess we can take you whenever we want" said Fox with gloating lilt to his voice.

In his confidence he never heard the door open behind, or the gentle jingle of the bell.

"I wouldn't say that gentlemen, after all it's so rude to take things without asking" said Arianna entering the shop behind them.

The kindly old lady that Sky remembered was gone, replaced by a towering façade of the gruffalo, in the face of such a monster Fox and the other two parasites cowered crippled by the fear the Arianna was weaving together in their minds.

"Run both of you"

A flash of light emanated from Luke and the others disappearing out of sight behind Arianna leaving Sky's friends free of the influence. Sky checked they were all alright before hugging her brother, behind him she could see Arianna back to normal holding the three small statues that had been in the package, with a wink she carried them into the back of her shop and returned with a birthday cake complete with candles. Sky took some time to explain throughout the party.

"Well Sparky I'm impressed, can't believe you pulled that off" said Clyde who was having trouble believing the whole thing "even with help from Lukey-boy and Arianna"

They had all ended up sat outside the shop enjoying the last of the summer sun with Arianna, Sky curled up next to her brother. Luke looked down at his sister who was poking her tongue out at Clyde for making fun of her story.

"Of course she pulled it off Clyde" Luke said smiling at his sister "She's my little sister and she's brilliant"

Sky was glowing with praise all the way back to Sarah-Jane's house where the second party of the night commenced, Luke left a little early and went back to his house to check on Josh and explain what had happened that day. He found his friend sat on the breakfast bar. Feeling a surge of guilt Luke shook his friend slowly and watched his eyes refocused.

"Look Luke I'm sorry alright I keep trying but these memories aren't coming any quicker with me trying to force them" said Josh frustration evident in his voice

Luke shook his head and helped Josh down off of the bar

"I know and I'm sorry" Luke replied with an amused smile on his face "don't waste any more time on this, whatever happens we can deal with it Sky proved that today"

Josh faced creased into a look of confusion to which Luke just shrugged his shoulders and dragged Josh out of the house intending to bring him back to the party and for the first night in a while didn't give any thought to looming evil.

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><p>i'm afraid by evil hinting habit isn't going to end anytime soon i just can't help myself. i really hoope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter because i certainly had fun writing this one, i can't say when the next chapter will be up but i can hopefully promise the return of everyone's favourite Rani because she hasn't had much of an influence up till now. untul next time please review because it makes me very happy.<p> 


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